Helen Sherrah-Davies

Join the Thoreau Society on Friday, July 12, 2019 at 7:30 at First Parish (Concord) for a special performance on Thoreau's 202d birthday. Event Registration

Five string violinist Helen Sherrah-Davies presents jazz-infected, trans-stylistic and synaesthetic-inspired eclectic originals. We invite you to join us on a creative journey that will include Cats, Candles, Light and Dark, and Elemental Paradox…

For this special concert, Helen is honored to be joined by the “folkloric elegance” of guitarist Steven Kirby and the outstanding bassist Ed Lucie – both faculty members from Berklee College of Music.

Bio

After many years as a classical performer and educator in her native Britain, Sherrah-Davies relocated to Boston and graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2008 (Summa Cum Laude) with the “most valuable player” award, winning praise for being “one of Berklee’s most original voices.” She then gained a Masters in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory and is now an Assistant Professor in the Harmony Department at Berklee.

Her international credits include recording with Herbie Flowers (Sky/T Rex) in the UK, performing with Jon Lord (Deep Purple) in Switzerland, at the wedding of “Posh Spice” to David Beckham in Ireland, Montepulciano Opera Festival Orchestra in Italy, an International Music Festival in the West Bank Palestine in 2011 - also teaching at Al Kamandjati in Ramallah. Stateside credits include performing and recording with Mimi Rabson’s "Strings Theory Trio," singer song-writer Alan Williams’ “Birdsong at Morning,” and the Boston-based Jazz Composers Alliance. Summer 2012 saw her explore microtonal notes between “the notes” with monster guitarist Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski’s unique “Planet Microjam Institute” at the Jazz Festival in Genoa, Italy, and in 2016 with the Splash Point All Stars at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Her debut recording as lead, "StarStuff," an album of jazz-infected, synaesthetic inspired and trans-stylistic originals, was born in 2009: "A richly beautiful album. In a league-of-its-own brilliance" (Neal Richardson, Splash Point Music, UK).

About Steven Kirby:

Guitarist, composer, educator Steven Kirby (“a guitarist of rippling technique and a poetic mind”- Downbeat) is known for performing exciting, melodic, lyrical and expressive jazz as well performing in other contemporary styles. He has appeared on multiple recordings, including three as a leader, “Point Of Balance” and “North Light” (Challenge Records)—and “Illuminations” (WCS records). “Illuminations” was a Downbeat Magazine’s “Editors Pick” and was included on the Grammy Nominations long list in 4 categories. He has performed and/or recorded with many of today’ most respected contemporary musicians including Chris Potter, Mike Manieri (Steps Ahead), Joe Lovano, Harvie S, Steve Hunt, Allan Holdsworth and others. He has toured in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Europe, China and Africa. Kirby’s music has been played on over 100 radio stations in the US and internationally including features on NPR’s “Here and Now”, “Jazz with Bob Parlocha” and “Eric in the Evening”. His jazz compositions have won awards in the International Songwriting Competition, the Billboard Song Contest and Downbeat. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and has a Masters degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from University of Massachusetts (Amherst). Kirby has published articles in Guitar Player Magazine, Jazz Improv Magazine and has just completed a new book, Jazz Guitar Strategies (Berklee Press) slated for publication in early 2020. He is currently an Associate Professor (Harmony Dept.) at Berklee College of Music and teaches as Visiting Professor at Wellesley College.

Selected Reviews: “Kirby’s music manifests the truth that jazz is an art built on growth and renewal…an extraordinarily pleasing and diverse album” (All About Jazz).

“Steven Kirby, guitarist of rippling technique and a poetic mind, has developed a modern jazz guitar style that bridges the angular lyricism of Pat Metheny and the painterly asceticism of Jim Hall”. (Downbeat Magazine)

“ Meticulously played, elegantly produced ….Kirby has a serious command of the guitar” (New England Performer) "..deep beauty and spare, folkloric elegance while also an album that doesn't lose sight of Kirby's jazz roots and a penchant for more incendiary playing. Texturally he expands his palette with a larger group who collectively lift these deep yet eminently accessible compositions off the page to leap out of the speakers…….Illuminations represents Kirby's biggest leap forward yet -..as a writer but, equally, as a guitarist who leans towards inimitable lyricism yet also possesses the chops to burn brightly as the music demands it”

Ed Lucie was born in Jamaica, Queens, NY. After seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, he immediately began guitar lessons but quickly discovered and switched to the electric bass guitar. He was mostly self-taught until entering Berklee College of Music, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music. He began doing road gigs but returned to Boston to earn a Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory. He was fortunate to study with Mirslov Vitous and Dave Holland. He soon relocated to LA where he served as chairman of the Bass Dep’t at the LA Music Academy. He is currently living in Boston where he is a professor at Berklee College of Music.

Ed is dedicated to the bass guitar (he does not double on upright) and seeing its acceptance into the jazz world. He has performed, recorded, travelled, and appeared with a wide variety of artists and situations including Buddy Rich, Stevie Wonder, Boston Pops, Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, Glen Yarbrough, Pat Boone, Peter Bernstein, and TV sitcoms.

Casey Schuerell, renowned drummer wrotes: “Ed Lucie is an outstanding musician. His bass playing reflects his deep passion for music. Accomplished in a wide range of styles, with a firm foundation in jazz, he is an excellent reader and a terrific improviser. When working with Ed, he contributes musically in unselfish ways, intuitively understanding the role he must play in order to make each musical experience successful.”